Before the month slips away, I've promised some folks some photographs of our March Roadtrip. We were gone three weeks and traveled first to Wisconsin to see Sarah and her family (I took almost no photos!), then on our way to the Florida Panhandle we stopped for brief visits in Indianapolis, IN, Nashville, TN, and Montgomery, AL. After two nights on the Panhandle we joined friends on Longboat Key for several days. On the way home, there were stops in Savannah, GA (no time to explore, but we've been there several times), Roanoke Island, NC, Richmond, VA and Pittsburgh, PA.
Two stops proved to be the highlights. The first was in Montgomery where we visited the Legacy Museum and National Monument for Peace and Justice. It was a sobering and moving experience. Both were organized and developed by Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative. If you haven't read Just Mercy or seen the movie of the same name, I can highly recommend both. You can read more about the organization here. The Legacy Museum does not allow photographs inside. We spend 1 1/2 hours there and barely touched the surface of what is presented. More information here.
The second highlight was not in the least somber. We had been told about the Phipp's Conservatory in Pittsburgh, but had no idea we'd be so lucky to arrive during their annual Flower Show. We were able to get timed tickets, and I took more photos here than on the rest of the trip combined. I'll be back soon with a blog post devoted to flowers.
The Eiteljorg Museum is devoted to Native American art. It's a lovely museum. We had an excellent lunch in their cafe, and here are two of my favorite photos.
A year or two before the pandemic, we spent a few days in Nashville, and enjoyed it. This time we, once again, headed right to Parnassus, a wonderful bookstore owned by Ann Patchett and a friend of hers. We both left with new books in hand, two of which I read while on our trip. Pineapple Street is a light read and just perfect for a road trip. Still Pictures: On Photograph and Memory is a memoir based on family photographs by Janet Malcolm. It probably isn't everyone's "cup of tea," but I loved it. I have a terrible memory of my childhood which was certainly a happy one, but I do think I could take some photos and write a brief essay about it which would make a great project for the winter months. No photos there, but I do have a couple of the main drag in downtown Nashville, taken on our way to the Ryman Auditorium where we saw Margo Price in concert.
Oh, and we had the best dessert of the trip at Hampton Social. Their version of banana cream pie (Tracy's favorite) was served on a hot waffle with a huge mound of whipped cream.
Here are some photos of the National Monument for Peace and Justice. It's a powerful statement of the cruelty directed to Black Americans. Each large rectangular block lists the names (if known) and the date of the lynchings by county in every state. Some counties had so many lynchings the font was tiny and there were two columns of names. This racially motivated and sanctioned terror prompted millions of Black Americans to migrate to the northern states.
For quite a few years I've read about a "charming" town on the Florida Panhandle. In fact, in our opinion, there aren't any charming towns on the Panhandle. It's basically a long road filled with condominiums and rentals with "locked" beaches. You can only get on the beach in the populated areas if you have a code from the place where you are staying. We were not staying at any high end rental, so this is the only photo I got of the beaches.
We did find some nice places to eat, and we spent our full day there exploring the different areas (I wouldn't call them towns, but that's what it looks like on a map.) We wouldn't choose to return.
Longboat Key, on the other hand, is lovely and we spent five days with our friends there. Before the pandemic we rented a place there for two weeks several times with our friends. They now rent for two full months, which we are not interested in doing. But we do love visiting!
The beach on Longboat certainly is a contrast from the one above this!
There are more birds than people on the beach.
Another highlight of our time on Longboat was an opportunity to meet in person two women I know through Instagram and the Color Hues Design team.
Our first stop on the way home was Savannah. We paid for all our hotels with points we've accumulated so when we could, we booked rooms with a view.
We were right on the River Walk, and walked the length of it which was a great thing to do after being in the car all day.
Our next stop was in Raleigh and visited the Duke Chapel and Gardens.
I gave Tracy a book, Blue Highways, for Christmas and our stop on Roanoke Island was a result of curiosity raised by the book. Once again, I took few photos, but this one was taken near the restaurant where we had lunch.
We arrived in Richmond, VA too late to do more than find a place for dinner, and the rest of the photos from the trip are of Phipp's Conservatory Flower Show. I'll try not to overwhelm you with photos from that in a later blog post.
